I still don't understand how Red John got the knowledge of Patrick's exact same 7 suspects, and even weirder, how did he know it before Patrick? This tape with Lorelei when she is speaking for Red John was shortly before she was killed, the bandage from the gunshot wound on her left arm proves it. Which means the tape was recorded just after Lorelei told Jane she was going after Red John to kill him, and this was in episode 16. Jane narrowed down the list in the season finale, 6 episodes later. It's like Red John knows exactly what Jane is thinking because I don't really see any connections here. I also don't understand HOW Patrick really narrowed down the list to these 7 individuals, what did he use? The Elliston farm? Members from Visualize, how? Visualize absolutely refused CBI to look at any membership from 1988 or any year before or after. I'm going crazy... I don't see any connections to this at all.

The list of seven is the truth, according to the writer, Mr. Bruno. Also remember that Bruno said we had seen "him" by season 3.I'd say it is either Bertram or Partridge, guys.
1.) Brett Stiles is a good actor for the part, but much too old, and I don't think Red John would have helped Jane break Lorelei out of jail. We k now that RJ was a teenager in the 1980s or so, and that is voice is thin and reedy from hearing him on the phone. The connection to Visualize is a misleader. Plus he is bald, and I don't think that the blind lady from forever ago would mistake that. and great gods, RJ's voice is nothing like Stiles'.
2.) Everybody likes Kirkland for it, but I'm pretty sure he's just a red herring, like Bruno (the writer) loves doing. He is shown shaking Jane's hand just to mislead the audience. He's a total tool, and not nearly as cunning as Red John would be, and when is the last time RJ has killed a suspect himself, that didn't try to "move in" or "copy" him? Never. Not his M.O.. A lot of people go into that his closing epsidode's name was "something rotten in REDmund" which I think is just another red herring. (Seeing him break into Jane's room for his evidence, for the purpose of creating that film, doesn't matter, the film with Lorelei is already made and she's dead by then.)
3.) Sherrif McCalister? You're kidding me, right? We saw him once, in S1 E1, and although he was a total creep to the fair Van Pelt, there's no way he has the connections with "all the townsies" that know him so well and enough time to play RJ. I wonder why he's on the list. (Plus the Sheriff has a mustache, and RJ doesn't, if that counts for anything, and he's too tall.)
4.) A lot of people like Haffner for it, but he isn't nearly intelligent enough, he looks too old, and his actor's acting abilities don't fit the bill. Two of his episodes weren't directed by Bruno or by  His placing in visualize earlier is way too comfortable, and his involvement in the Red Barn case is equally circumspect. Also, since we know Kirkland is a tool, do we really think that Haffner, who reports to him, would (were he RJ) allow his minions a higher place than himself? No.
5.) Mr. Reed? We see him once. In some random episode in season two or three I think. He's too tall, and very overweight. I don't think someone with RJ's personal determination and precision would be overweight, and RJ isn't overweight in the video we see of him or when we see him in person. Wrong voice too, too low.
That leaves us two people.6.) Bertram7.) PartridgeNow there's a lot of suspicion with Bertram, my favorite of the two, for two reasons. One is that the actor who plays him is very very good, and excelled at playing creepy domineering guy in a previous series. (24 fans, anywhere?) Two is a trickle of strange comments from Jane about him, concerning poker, his comment "I get a weird vibe from the guy" and Bertram's other concern with self-image, just like Red John. There is also the quoting of poetry in an episode that seems Red-John-esque.Unfortunately, he seems a little too old, a little too bald, and a little too easy to manipulate to be Red John, and his voice isn't nearly reedy enough.
Which leaves us with Partridge, Who is the right height, voice, and weight, as well as the right voice, and he has the creepy-domineering abusive person vibe... and his obsession with Charles Dickens seems right on the spot. but his comments about Jane doing "his thing" and suspicious placement in the season finally make him lackluster as a Red John character. Plus the actor himself has pretty much no experience whatsoever.He is too obvious I think.
Haffner is my #3.

The writers of the show make sure they know who the top suspects on the internet are, so I'm sure they put some names on that list just because they are popular suspects on the internet
So we have a list of seven names now:

Robert Kirkland:  Red John knew about the names way before Kirkland hired those guys to break into Jane's office, so I really doubt it would be him. I won't rule him out because of that because his "alibi" seems too obvious. Even if he knew the 7 names beforehand he could still hire people to break into Jane's office, just to throw Jane off his trail.

Reede Smith and the Sheriff: Who the f are these anyways? And I doubt the sheriff could get Rosalind to fall in love with him, as I recall he was too old and gross.

Haffner and Partridge: seem like they made it to the list just because they are popular among the fans of the show. Both are too obvious choices, not a plot twist at all.

If I had to guess today my cards would be on Gale Bertram. He has the power and resources to pull it off. He is an insider at the CBI, he knows when PJ is working and where he is at all the times so he could have broken into his office long ago to get the list.

Right now Im just surprised by how good of a villain RJ is. He is so unpredictable and smart. Im more curious to know how he figured out the list of names than to know his true identity.